Overview of 5G Field Trials 2017

New-Generation Mobile Communications OfficeRadio Department
Telecommunications Bureau
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

The Fifth Generation Mobile Communications
System (5G) will pave the way for many new capabilities
and features such as ultra-high speed, massive machinetype communications, ultra-reliability, and low latency.
5G is expected to be developed in the years ahead as theessential ICT infrastructure supporting the IoT era andJapan’s economic growth.
Japan’s “Growth Strategy 2018”, approved by theCabinet on June 15 this year, highlights the importance of“rapid dissemination and development of 5G in rural areasof Japan”. 5G is required as a powerful engine for growthnationwide, not only in urban areas but also in rural areas
to activate those region and resolve the problems besetting
rural areas.
To make Japan as one of the first countries to commercialize 5G in the world, the Ministry of Internal
Affairs and Communications (MIC) has strengthened
international partnerships with Europe, U.S., and other
Asian countries. In October 2016, MIC consulted the Information and Communication Council about “TechnicalConditions Concerning New Generation Mobile Communication System” to begin consideration of allocating
spectrum bandwidth to 5G, and the Council reported on
5G technical requirements in July 31, 2018. MIC will allocate spectrum to 5G by the end of the fiscal year.
Meanwhile, MIC continues to promote R&D
to commercialize 5G and carry out field trials todemonstrate actual 5G applications. The trials began lastyear, and stakeholders in a number of relevant fields—
transportation, tourism, medicine, etc.—took part in six
demonstration projects that have already yielded goodresults.
This special issue provides an overview of the 5G
Field Trials (hereafter Field Trials) of 2017 sponsored byMIC.

1. Introduction

The capabilities of 5G represents a major advancement
over current wireless systems—very high speed of 10
Gbps (100 times faster than LTE), up to a 1,000,000
connected devices /km2 (100 times the number of devices
supported by LTE), 1 ms delay (one-tenth the delay ofLTE)—which promises to open up all kinds of newservice offerings and applications across many different
industrial sectors.
3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) andITU-R (ITU Radiocommunication Sector) have
stepped up international standardization activities tomake 5G a reality by the year 2020. Governments
and 5G promotional organizations of countries andregions around the world have been actively discussing
international coordination regarding spectrum for 5G, 5G
use cases, and migration scenarios from 4G to 5G withsome of the industries that have the most to gain fromexploiting 5G.
From this background, six projects were carried out
as part of the Field Trials to assess the performance of
5G and to clarify the technical conditions in different
test environments. These projects assessed radio wave
propagation characteristics and specific applications andservices when introducing 5G on frequency bands from
3.6 GHz to 4.2 GHz and from 4.4 GHz to 4.9 GHz(referred to as the 4.5 GHz band) and from 27.5 GHz to29.5 GHz.
This paper provides an overview of the Field Trials
and a detailed description of the six projects by thecompanies and organizations responsible for the projects.

2. Setting Technical Targets

Numerical targets were set to get an estimationof the achievement levels for the specific services andapplications under test.

New Breeze Autumn 201813. Preconditions

Preconditions for the 5G system were clearly specified
to define the system and ensure that there were no
inconsistencies among the various projects. Here weassume that the mobile communications system is the5G system now being investigated by the 3GPP, which is
expected to be recommended by the ITU-R as the IMT2020 system.

4. Test Environment

We use the scenarios, technical performancerequirements, and required values for the evaluation
environment of 5G as defined by the ITU-R.
1) Usage Scenarios
The ITU-R drafted the recommendation “IMTVision” (M.2083), which summarizes the basic 5G
capabilities and concepts.
In this recommendation, three 5G usage scenarios aredescribed:(1) eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband)(2) mMTC (massive Machine Type Communications)(3) UR LLC ( U ltra Reliable Low Latenc yCommunications)
The eMBB scenario supports ultrahigh-speedtransmission of high-definition 4K/8K video and otherHD applications; the mMTC scenario supports a large
number of communication endpoints with infrastructure
maintenance, low-power IoT, and so on; and the URLLC
scenario supports real-time communication suchas autonomous driving, real-time operation of remoterobotics, and remote surgery.
5G does not require all of these scenarios in a single
network. Rather, 5G will create a communications
environment that satisfies a full range of needs bydelivering the performance needed to address thesevarious usage scenarios.

2

New Breeze Autumn 20182) Performance Requirements to be Achieved by 5G
ITU-R Recommendation M.2412 provides aguideline for evaluating radio interface for IMT-2020(5G). Within the guideline, test environments are definedfor an evaluation that combines a usage scenario and ageographic environment. The evaluation environments
are classified as “indoor hot spots”, “dense urban”, “rural”,
and “urban wide areas.” The guideline is associated with alist of up to 13 requirements: peak data rate, and so on.
The key technical performance requirements in theguideline are a peak data rate of 20 Gbps, a connection
density of 1,000,000 devices/km2, and a latency of 1 ms.
The test environment for the Field Trials is fullycompliant with these guidelines.

5. Implementation SystemThe Field Trials were conducted in collaboration
with major telecom companies and institutions thatwere selected to execute the six projects. Applications
were provided by trial partners, and the 5G trials wereconducted not only in the Tokyo metropolitan area, but inrural parts of Japan as well.

6. Conclusion

There has been a great deal of interest within Japanand overseas in the results of performance assessments ofactual applications in the 2017 5G Field Trials. We haveshared the results at two conferences, and many inquiries
have been received from overseas.
The Field Trials are scheduled to continue for threeyears and will focus on 5G services that help resolve
rural issues in 2019. Through these efforts, Japan willcommercialize 5G as the most advanced system in theworld, and 5G will provide a trigger for robust economic
growth in urban and rural areas throughout Japan.